1989 Argentine general election

The Argentine general election of 1989 was held on 14 May 1989. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.3%, Carlos Menem won the presidency, and the Justicialist Party won the control of both houses of Congress. This is the last presidential election the president was elected by the electoral college.

1989 Argentine general election

May 14, 1989
600 members of the electoral college 301 votes needed to win
Registered	20,034,252
Turnout	85.31%
Nominee Carlos Saúl Menem Eduardo Angeloz Álvaro Alsogaray Party Justicialist Party Radical Civic Union Union of the Democratic Centre Alliance Justicialist Front of Popular Unity Radical Civic Union + Independent Federalist Confederation Alliance of Centre Home state La Rioja Córdoba Santa Fe Running mate Eduardo Duhalde Juan Manuel Casella Alberto Natale Electoral vote 312 234 28 States carried 20 3 + CABA 0 Popular vote 7,954,191 6,213,217 1,093,398 Percentage 47.49% 37.03% 6.53%
President before election Raúl Alfonsín Radical Civic Union Elected President Carlos Menem Justicialist Party

Background

Inheriting a difficult legacy from his military predecessors, President Raúl Alfonsín's tenure had been practically defined by the foreign debt Argentina's last dictatorship left behind. Signs of unraveling in Alfonsín's 1985 Austral Plan for economic stabilization cost his centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR) its majorities in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of Congress) and among the nation's 22 governorships in the September 1987 mid-term elections. Facing a restive armed forces opposed to trials against past human rights abuses and mounting inflation, the president brought elections forward five months, now scheduled for May 14, 1989. Both major parties held national conventions in May 1988. The UCR nominated Córdoba Governor Eduardo Angeloz, a safe, centrist choice and the most prominent UCR figure not closely tied to the unpopular President Alfonsín. In an upset, however, Carlos Menem, governor of the remote and thinly populated La Rioja Province, wrested the Justicialist Party nomination from the odds-on candidate, Buenos Aires Province Governor Antonio Cafiero, a policy maker close to the Justicialists' founder, the late Juan Perón. Cafiero's defeat resulted largely from CGT trade union opposition to his Peronist Renewal faction; Alfonsín's top political adviser, Interior Minister Enrique Nosiglia, in turn saw Menem's flamboyance as an opportunity for the struggling UCR.

The Justicialists (Peronists) took a sizable lead in polling early on, however, even as nearly half the voters remained undecided. Hoping to translate this into a UCR victory over the outspoken and eccentric Menem, President Alfonsín enacted an August 1988 "Springtime Plan" in a bid for lower inflation (then running at 27% monthly). The plan, criticized as a rehashed "Austral Plan" by the CGT, called for budget cuts and renewed wage freezes - policies they blamed for sliding living standards. Initially successful, a record drought late in the year buffeted critical export earnings and led to rolling blackouts, dissipating any gains Angeloz might have made from the "relief" of 6% monthly inflation.

A perennial third-party candidate, conservative economist Álvaro Alsogaray, made gains following the January 1989 assault by Trotskyite militants on the La Tablada Barracks, west of Buenos Aires. Twice minister of the economy and remembered for his belief that the economy must go through "winter," the unpopular Alsogaray ran on a free market platform, calling for mass privatizations and deep cuts in social spending (amid 30% poverty). Angeloz took the controversial decision of including social spending cuts in the UCR platform, as well, earning the right-wing Federal Party's endorsement; but alienating many others (particularly pensioners, among whom Alfonsín had won decisively in 1983). The largely civil campaign became increasingly a debate between the Justicialist nominee and the president, himself; Angeloz, the UCR nominee, remained "presidential" during the frequent exchanges of innuendo between Alfonsín and Menem.

Following a sharp drop in Central Bank reserves, the U.S. dollar gained around 40% against the austral in heavy trading on "black Tuesday," February 7. The sudden drop in the austral's value threatened the nation's tenuous financial stability and, later that month, the World Bank recalled a large tranche of a loan package agreed on in 1988, sending the austral into a tailspin: trading at 17 to the dollar in January, the dollar quoted at over 100 australes by election day, May 14. Inflation, which had been held to the 5-10% monthly range as late as February, rose to 78.5% in May, shattering records and leading to a landslide victory for the Peronists. Polling revealed that economic anxieties were paramount among two-thirds of voters and Menem won in 19 of 22 provinces, while losing in the traditionally anti-Peronist Federal District (Buenos Aires).

The nation's finances did not stabilize after the election, as hoped. The dollar doubled in value that next week, alone, and on May 29, riots broke out in the poorer outskirts of a number of cities. Having declared his intention to stay on until inaugural day, December 10, these events and spiraling financial chaos led Alfonsín to transfer power to President-elect Menem five months early, on July 8. When Menem accepted the presidential sash from Alfonsín, it marked the first time since 1916 that an incumbent government peacefully transferred power to the opposition.[1]

Candidates for presidency

• Justicialist Party (populist): Governor Carlos Menem of La Rioja Province
• Radical Civic Union (social liberal): Governor Eduardo Angeloz of Córdoba Province
• Union of the Democratic Centre (conservative liberal): Deputy Alvaro Alsogaray of the City of Buenos Aires

Results

President

Presidential candidate	Vice Presidential candidate	Party or coalition		Popular vote		Electoral vote
				Votes	%	Votes	%
Carlos Menem	Eduardo Duhalde		Frente Justicialista de Unidad Popular Justicialist Party Partido del Trabajo y del Pueblo Christian Democratic Party Intransigent Party Movimiento Línea Popular Movimiento Nacionalista Constitucional	7,954,191	47.49	312	52.00
Eduardo Angeloz	Juan Manuel Casella		Radical Civic Union Confederación Federalista Independiente	6,202,163	37.03	234	39.00
Álvaro Alsogaray	Alberto Natale		Alianza de Centro Democratic Progressive Party Union of the Democratic Centre	1,093,398	6.53	28	4.67
José Corzo Gómez	Federico Houssay		Partido Blanco de los Jubilados	315,600	1.88	7	1.17
Antonio Domingo Bussi	Antonio Álvarez		Republican Force	185,036	1.10	7	1.17
Parties without candidates			Pacto Autonomista - Liberal Democratic Progressive Party Movimiento Liberación Popular	106,774	0.64	5	0.83
			Neuquén People's Movement	35,466	0.21	4	0.67
Néstor Vicente	Luis Zamora		Alianza Izquierda Unida Izquierda Democrática Popular Communist Party Movement for Socialism	409,250	2.44	1	0.17
Parties without candidates			Alianza Bloquista	27,004	0.16	1	0.17
			Acción Chaqueña	19,831	0.12	1	0.17
Guillermo Estévez Boero	Alfredo Bravo		Alianza Unidad Socialista Democratic Socialist Party Popular Socialist Party	236,532	1.41
Jorge Altamira	Gregorio Flores		Workers' Party	45,763	0.28
Luis Alberto Ammann	Lía Méndez		Alianza Frente Humanista Verde Humanist Party Partido Verde Ecologista Pacifista	42,316	0.25
Party without candidates			Cruzada Renovadora	11,236	0.07
Eduardo Angeloz	María Cristina Guzmán		Confederación Federalista Independiente	11,054	0.07
Parties without candidates			Movimiento Unidad Renovadora	7,661	0.05
			Azul, Lealtad, Restauración	7,287	0.04
Angel Bustelo	Eduardo Hernández		Acuerdo Popular	6,097	0.04
Parties without candidates			Partido de La Independencia	4,083	0.02
			Socialist Party	3,600	0.02
			Partido del Trabajo y del Pueblo	2,770	0.02
			Partido Socialista Obrero para la Liberación	2,715	0.02
			Partido Demócrata	2,487	0.01
			Partido de los Jubilados	2,340	0.01
			Demócrata Liberal Movimiento Popular Provincial	2,327	0.01
			Partido de la Liberación	1,851	0.01
			Movimiento Democrático Popular Antiimperialista	1,345	0.01
			Frente Renovador	1,281	0.01
			Tradición y Coherencia	1,181	0.01
			Justicia Social	1,147	0.01
			Frente Unión Autonomista	973	0.01
			Unión Provincial	966	0.01
			Acción Provinciana	838	0.01
			Defensa Provincial - Bandera Blanca	651	0.00
			Integration and Development Movement	557	0.00
			Fueguino People's Movement	472	0.00
			Movimiento Nacionalista	245	0.00
			Unificación Populista	243	0.00
			Authentic Socialist Party	216	0.00
			Partido Autentico Formoseño	181	0.00
Total				16,749,128	100
Positive votes				16,749,128	98.00
Blank votes				222,048	1.30
Invalid votes				116,049	0.68
Vote errors				4,395	0.02
Turnout				17,091,620	85.31	600	100
Abstentions				2,942,632	14.69	0	0.00
Registered voters				20,034,252	100	600	100
Source: Dirección Nacional Electoral - Recorriendo las Elecciones de 1983 a 2013

Votes Menem   47.51% Angeloz   37.10% Alsogaray   7.17% Others   8.22%

Congress

Party/electoral alliance	Lower House seats	% of votes	Senate
Justicialist Party Christian Democratic MID	120 3 1
Popular Justicialist Front	124	44.7%	28
UCR	90	28.8%	12
UCeDé Democratic Progressive	11 3
Centrist Alliance	14	9.6%
CFI	3	3.8%
Autonomist-Liberal Pact (Corrientes Province)	3	0.8%	1
Intransigent Party	2	2.8%
Popular Movement (Jujuy Province)	2	0.1%	1
People's Movement (Neuquén Province)	2	0.2%	1
Republican Force (Tucumán Province)	2	1.1%	1
United Left	1	3.5%
Socialist Unity Alliance	1	2.6%
Others	10	2.0%	2
Invalid votes		2.6%
Total	254	100.0%	46

[2]

Electoral system: Proportional representation by districts according to the D'Hondt method. Seats are divided among those lists of candidates from parties or electoral alliances that obtain at least 3% of the electoral census or working electoral of the district.

Notes

1. Todo Argentina
2. Dirección Nacional Electoral Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine